The Mong writing known as the "Mong Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) System" was co-founded by Dr. & Rev. George Linwood Barney and Dr. William A. Smalley of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Father Yves Bertrais (Txivplig Nyiaj Pov) of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) missionary of the Catholic Church in France between 1951-1953 to translate the Bible, Christian hymns, and Christian literacy to spread the Gospel of Christ into the Mong language as the Mong didn't have a writing system prior to this.  Listed below are the basic consonants, vowels, and tone markers, including a free primer book that you can download below to use on this website.

CONSONANTS
     Single (17):  C D* F H K L M N P Q R S T V X Y Z
     Double (24):  CH DH* DL HL HM* HN* KH ML NC NG NK NQ NP NR NT NY PH PL QH RH TH TS TX XY
     Triple (16): DLH HML* HNY* NCH NDL NKH NPH NQH NTH NRH NTS NTX NPL PLH TSH TXH
     Quadruple (4): NDLH NTSH NTXH NPLH

     *Use exclusively by those who speak the White Hmong dialect only.

VOWELS
     5 Monophthongs: A E I O U W 
     8 Diphthongs: AA AI AU AW EE IA OO UA

TONE MARKERS
     B - cim sab (liver)
     D - cim tod (at/across)
     G - cim neeg (horse)
     J - cim ntuj ( sky)
​     M - cim nam (mother)
     S - cim ntus (duration)
     V - cim kuv (I/me)
     Ua* - cim ua (to do)

*The Ua marker is used to signify the absence of a tone marker in words, i.e., cua (wind), no (cold), qha (teach), etc.

​MONG PRIMER BOOK (FREE! Click to download!)
This Mong Primer is designed for beginners.  It is free to download and use.  Copies may be made for personal use only provided that credit is given to the authors.  

Handouts for Research Presentation

Thao, P. (2026, Mar. 25). Part II. Implications for Reforming the Mong/Hmong RPA System. Handout for the Zoom Oral research presentation for the Expert Panel of the RPA Project. St. Paul, MN.

Thao, P. (2025, Aug. 23). Part I. The orthography: Historical development of the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) System. Handout for the presentation for the 1st Expert Panel of the RPA . St. Paul, MN: Concordia University.

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